Forex: EUR/CHF breached 1.2300

The Swiss franc continues to gather buying interest on Friday, accentuated after the unemployment rate in the Alpine economy dropped to 3.1% in January, beating expectations and previous prints at 3.4% and 3.3%, respectively. In the same tone, Swiss retail sales jumped 5.1% on a yearly basis during December vs. 3.2% expected and November’s +3.0%.

“Focus is currently on support and below 1.2258 will trigger a deeper retracement to 1.2173/68… where we would expect to see stabilisation”, suggested Karen Jones, Head of FICC Technical Analysis at Commerzbank.

At the moment, the pair is down 0.06% at 1.2294 and a dip below 1.2257 (low Feb.5) would bring 1.2232 (MA55d) and finally 1.2187 (low Jan.14).On the upside, resistance levels line up at 1.2351 (MA10d) ahead of 1.2384 (MA21d) and then 1.2503 (Upper Bollinger).

Feb 8, 2013

Forex: GBP/USD hits 1.5800 resistance

The GBP/USD has been trading higher for most of the trading day, and from just above the opening price, the market engaged in a steady rise during the London morning, getting blocked around 1.5760 and stuck in the 1.5740/60 range. Just recently, the market was able to breach above the upper band and rally to the 1.5800 mark (+0.55%), where it quotes as of writing.

The US will release its Trade Deficit data and consensus expects the trade deficit to narrow from $-48.73B to $-45.80B. TD Securities too look for a slightly smaller trade deficit than consensus in December, “as the lagged impact from lower energy prices and further improvement in export activity temper the trade imbalance”. “We expect the deficit to narrow to $45.5B (consensus: $46.0). The outlook for the trade sector remains favorable as the lagged impact from the recent fall in energy prices and improvement in global demand should bolster net trade activity”, wrote analyst Richard Kelly.